About Us

Mira de Jong is a Supervising Staff Attorney who focuses on providing direct representation to elderly and medically vulnerable incarcerated persons. Before joining the Illinois Prison Project, she worked for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia in their Prisoner and Reentry Legal Services Division, representing clients in disciplinary hearings at the D.C. jail and in motions for compassionate release. Mira graduated from the City University of New York School of Law where she served as the Managing Articles Editor of the CUNY Law Review and was a member of the Formerly Incarcerated Law Students Advocacy Association (FILSAA), and she graduated Cum Laude from Barnard College where she studied history. Mira is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.

Rachel Lindner is a Supervising Staff Attorney. She has over a decade of experience fighting for people within the criminal legal system. Prior to joining the Illinois Prison Project, Rachel worked as a public defender in New Orleans with the Orleans Public Defenders, where she represented thousands of people charged with crimes at the trial level. Before that, she worked with the Capital Appeals Project, where she represented people across Louisiana who had been sentenced to death. Rachel earned her JD from Northwestern University School of Law, and before that, a BA in Philosophy and an MA in Religious Studies from the University of Chicago.

Ginevra Francesconi is the Social Work Supervisor. She has held various roles at the Illinois Prison Project since 2019, working alongside attorneys representing clients in clemency, parole, resentencing and administrative advocacy. As the Social Work Supervisor she oversees the social work team and provides holistic psychosocial support to IPP clients. Ginevra graduated with her Masters in Social Work from the University of Chicago in 2022 and graduated Magna Cum Laude from DePaul University in 2020, where she studied Sociology and Peace, Justice and Conflict. Throughout her career she has worked closely with adults and youth experiencing co-occuring mental health disorders who are impacted by the criminal legal system by providing clinical interventions, case management, and advocacy. Ginevra hopes for a future free from the systems that criminalize mental illness and harm marginalized communities.

Yuchabel Harris has been actively advocating for systemic change that will eliminate the racial and economic disparities of those who are incarcerated. Harris has led campaigns and facilitated discussions with community leaders to address the criminalization of people of color and the poor. Harris has worked on projects and served with organizations, such as Dream Defenders, that were focused on decreasing the number of youth that were being arrested and sentenced to juvenile prison in Florida. Shortly after her move to Chicago, Harris volunteered with Cabrini Green Legal Aid providing legal assistance on cases for survivors of domestic and sexual violence serving long sentences. Yuchabel is a Florida native and graduated from the University of Tampa with a Bachelor's in English. And her future goal is to attend law school and become an attorney.

Maria Burnett is a staff attorney. For more than 13 years, she worked with the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW), first based in Bujumbura as the Burundi researcher and then later in Kampala as the Uganda researcher. She eventually became HRW's director for the East and Horn of Africa, supervising work on Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, and Tanzania. She has also consulted for philanthropic foundations working on human rights and democracy in East and Central Africa. Burnett has researched and written on a broad range of human rights issues, including police brutality, free expression, child soldiers, the rights of indigenous people in the context of mining and exploration, the use of torture and extrajudicial executions, threats to civic space, and justice reform. Her writing has appeared in the BBC Focus on Africa, Al Jazeera, the East African, CNN, the Index on Censorship, and the American Scholar, among other news sources. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Burnett worked as an architect and journalist in Southern and West Africa. Burnett holds a law degree from Yale Law School, a master’s from the Architectural Association in London, and a bachelor's in architecture, summa cum laude, from Princeton University. She speaks French, Italian, and Albanian. She was a pro bono attorney with the Washington DC Compassionate Release Clearinghouse and is a commissioner on the Washington DC Human Rights Commission.

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Imani Hollie is a staff attorney. Prior to joining the Illinois Prison Project, Imani was an assistant state public defender in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, specializing in youth delinquency and child protection cases. Originally from Los Angeles, California, Imani is an alumna of Loyola University Chicago, School of Law. Imani was a law clerk at the Cook County Public Defender Office in the Juvenile Justice Division. She also interned for Lawndale Christian Legal Center, a non-profit organization located on the Westside of Chicago, representing youth in juvenile delinquency proceedings. Additionally, Imani represented students in suspension, expulsion, and IEP meetings as a student advocate for Loyola’s SUFEO (Stand Up For Each Other!), a student-run organization that provides free information and services for K-12 students facing suspension, bullying or exclusion from school. Imani is the Associate Director of Professional Identity Formation at Loyola University Chicago, School of Law teaching a diversity, inclusion, and equity course to first year law students. Imani is also an adjunct professor at Loyola teaching the Public Interest Law Seminar to second and third year law students during the spring semester.

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Marissa Jackson is a Northwestern Law Public Interest Fellow. She advocates for the release of incarcerated people through a variety of methods including clemency, resentencing, parole and administrative advocacy. During law school, Marissa served as a comment editor for the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. She also worked in the Center on Wrongful Convictions for two years, including serving as a teaching assistant. Marissa was awarded the graduating class Legal Profession Award, which is awarded by fellow students to the person who has made the greatest contribution to professional responsibility and to the practice of law. She attended the University of California, Santa Barbara for her undergraduate degree where she majored in comparative literature and history. After graduation, she worked at a nonprofit that supports community clinics in providing quality care to underserved populations in Los Angeles County, and then worked in administration at an elementary school. During this time, she also earned a master’s degree in U.S. and Latin American history, focused on human rights abuses.

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Nadia Woods is a staff attorney, working alongside incarcerated folks to get them home. Before joining IPP, Nadia was a civil rights and criminal defense attorney with First Defense Legal Aid and The Bronzeville Law Group, respectively. Nadia graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2021, and has since been admitted to the Illinois Bar and the General Bar of the Northern District of Illinois, as well as become an Adjunct Professor at her alma mater. While in law school Nadia was a staff writer for the Public Interest Law Reporter, was involved in organizing both on and off campus, and worked at various clinics, legal aids and public defense offices. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Anthropology with a minor in Africana Studies from Texas A&M University.

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Lia Raves is an attorney and Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by Greenberg Traurig, LLP and Discover Financial Services at the Illinois Prison Project. She advocates for the release of incarcerated people who were charged and mandatorily tried as adults under Illinois’ automatic transfer laws when they were juveniles. She works to bring people home through a variety of methods including clemency and youthful parole. During law school, Lia’s work focused on intersection between youth and the criminal legal system. Lia served as a junior staff member of the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal and senior editor of the Public Interest Law Reporter. Lia also served as the Vice President and Student Advocate of the student organization Stand Up For Each Other! (SUFEO!), that provided free legal services to Chicago Public School students and families who were facing education related issues, such as special education, bullying, suspension, and expulsion. Lia attended North Carolina State University for her undergraduate degree where she majored in political science and sociology. After earning her bachelor's, she served as an AmeriCorp Fellow with the Illinois JusticeCorps where she worked alongside judges, clerks, and a variety of legal aid organizations to assist self-represented litigants navigate the Circuit Court of Cook County to make the court system a more welcoming environment and bridge the gap between self-represented litigants and access to justice.

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Ingrid Hofeldt is a Staff Attorney with the Women & Survivors Project, where she advocates alongside survivors of domestic violence, sex trafficking, and sexual assault in clemency and resentencing matters. She began her career at the Women’s Fund of Omaha, engaging in policy advocacy, systems change, and prevention education around domestic and sexual violence. Through this work, she developed a passion for using the law to seek justice for criminalized survivors. In 2022, Ingrid graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School where she served as the Student Director of the Clemency Clinic and taught legal research and writing to first-year students. During law school, Ingrid worked at the Women’s Justice Institute, the National Center for Youth Law, and Illinois Prison Project. Ingrid also published a note in the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science, & Technology on how the Miller case applies to male survivors of sexual abuse and was granted the Bearmon Award in Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility for an essay she wrote conceptualizing lawyering based on Black Feminist thought. After law school, Ingrid worked at Life Span, where she represented survivors in family law and order of protection cases. Ingrid graduated from Carleton College in 2017 with a B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology.

Cindy Murillo is the Women and Survivors Project paralegal. Before joining IPP, she worked as a paralegal in domestic relations for a large firm. Cindy also worked for an innocence organization working to exonerate wrongfully convicted people. She graduated from Northeastern Illinois University with a bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. Currently pursuing a degree in Mediation and Conflict Resolution at Dominican University. She participated in a fellowship with the office of Justice, Equity and Inclusion at Dominican which seeks to empower members of the university's community and create a just and humane campus.

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Brian Johnson is a Senior Paralegal and has been with IPP since June 2020. He provides essential support to multiple forms of legal, including clemency, resentencing, parole, and medical/compassionate release, working primarily with people serving extended sentences in Illinois state prisons. During his time at IPP, he has managed IPP’s work in response to the creation of Illinois’s new medical release system, IPP’s intake system, and supported work on the Women & Survivor’s Project, IPP’s Three Strikes Campaign, and emerging work around Illinois’s youthful parole system. Brian previously worked with the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics and Community Service Center, where he developed programming for new students to learn about and connect with social justice and political work across Chicago. He was also a Justice Fellow with the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights. Brian is a 2021 graduate of the University of Chicago, where he received Special Honors from the Department of English and was selected to receive the Howell Murray Alumni Association Award.

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Jessie Schrantz, LCSW is a Social Worker, working primarily on Joe Coleman Act medical release cases. Before joining the Illinois Prison Project team, she worked in community mental health as part of an Assertive Community Treatment team to support adults with serious mental illness to live independently in the community. She graduated with her Master of Social Work from University of Illinois Chicago in 2021, where she specialized in mental health and provided case management to people impacted by the criminal legal system and survivors of police violence at Cabrini Green Legal Aid and the Chicago Torture Justice Center. She graduated with honors from Stanford University in 2017, where she majored in African and African American Studies.

Vincent Boggan is IPP's Intake Coordinator, and previously served as a Community Navigator. After enduring 33 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections and with the Illinois Prison Project's assistance, Boggan’s sentence was commuted by Gov. JB Pritzker on Dec. 22, 2020. Boggan was severely impacted by the system when he chose to exercise his right to a jury trial on multiple counts of armed robbery and received a 135 year sentence. Over the course of his incarceration, Boggan earned several degrees and certificates. He became a born-again Christian shortly after his arrest and has been involved in ministry for more than 30 years. During his incarceration Boggan also discovered his gift in art and has created thousands of oil paintings. Although art is one of Boggan’s greatest gifts, he has no doubt that his main calling is simply to be a cog in the wheel for eradicating mass incarceration — long term sentences in particular. This calling began more than two decades ago when Boggan started his career as a Prison Law Clerk, helping people in their fight to get out of prison.‍

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Attorney Monica Smith is IPP's Joe Coleman Medical Release Act Legal Coordinator. She works closely with members of the private bar to provide legal representation to medically vulnerable individuals in Joe Coleman hearings. Before joining IPP, Monica was the Associate Director of the Beyond Jails Initiative at Vera Institute of Justice. Previously, Monica coordinated nationwide decarceral efforts at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, including a million-dollar, 27-city bail out. In her prior role as Director of Court Advocacy at the Youth Justice Network, Monica worked to free young people from Rikers Island. Monica began her career as a Public Defender in Kentucky and later in Louisiana.  She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Xavier University of Louisiana and J. D. from Southern University Law Center.

Sophia Goebel is a paralegal supporting IPP’s legal team in the Three Strikes and Veterans campaigns. Before joining IPP, Sophia was a paralegal at Jenner & Block, where she assisted on prisoner rights matters, including civil suits against private prison contractor Wexford Health Sources. Previously, Sophia worked as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant at the Universidad de Málaga in Spain. She graduated magna cum laude from Kalamazoo College in 2021, where she studied Critical Ethnic Studies and Political Science.

Deon Griggs joined IPP’s Women and Survivors Project as a Survivor Advocate, where he assists in reentry planning and advocacy for clients. Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Deon’s family members experienced unaddressed mental health challenges and gender-based violence. This experience led him to work supporting folks who face criminalization by the system. Prior to joining IPP, Deon worked as an advocate in Family Defense for Mothers in North Tulsa, where he assisted mothers in system navigation and advocated for them while they faced DHS involvement. In this work, Deon implemented strategies to combat the criminalization of mothers by the child welfare system, combating systems of oppression and advocating for those who face dehumanization and criminalization by the state.

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Kaitlyn Foust is the Assistant Director of Education. She started with IPP in August 2020 as a Program Intern and has since served in the position of Education Program Manager. In May of 2020, Foust graduated Summa Cum Laude from Loyola University Chicago, earning bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Criminal Justice & Criminology. She stuck around LUC for another year earning her MA in Criminal Justice & Criminology in May 2021. She was a Research Assistant in LUC's Center for Criminal Justice Research Policy and Practice during her undergraduate and graduate work, studying trends in criminal legal systems throughout Illinois. 

Jessica Daniels is the Education Program Manager. A native of the west side of Chicago, Daniels formulated her passion for social justice through volunteering at Breakthrough Urban Ministries and participating in several arts and activism organizations in Chicago, including the Kuumba Lynx Performance Ensemble. Daniels studied political science and administration of justice at Howard University. During her time in undergrad she volunteered in DC’s Youth Service Center, where she mentored incarcerated youth and worked with correctional staff to decrease recidivism. Before working as a program manager, Daniels served as the public benefits outreach coordinator for Legal Aid Chicago. She began her work at IPP in June of 2021 as a program intern.

Anthony Jones is an educator, criminal justice reform advocate, and paralegal. At the age of 20, Jones was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. While in prison Jones transformed his life, dedicating his time to pursuing higher education and his spiritual resurrection. This journey ultimately led him to a world he never knew before. Jones would eventually embrace another name becoming Anaviel Ben Rakemeyahu, growing to become a respected leader amongst his incarcerated peers. He he also earned his paralegal certification, two college degrees, and became certified by the Illinois Department of Health as a peer health educator and a peer mentor.

Jones helped many incarcerated citizens file successful petitions with the Illinois courts. In April 2020, Jones filed his own pro-se executive clemency petition to Governor JB Pritzker resulting in his release on July 28, 2021 after almost serving 30 years in prison. Jones continues to focus on education, which he refers to as "dedication" and helping others, believing that at the age of 50 is when we must focus on "intensified learning".

NaJei Webster, better known as JeiJei, is a formerly incarcerated warrior in this fight for justice. JeiJei is an educator, mentor, advisor, as well as a student in this work. JeiJei has a passion for advocating for women who cannot use their voices. Women will not be forgotten or disregarded in any room that she graces. JeiJei served 8 years, 8 months and 15 days, where this passion was embedded in her. She returned back to society ready and willing to expose the sensitive parts of her life in order to help others. Against all odds, she thrived within the walls of IDOC and freedom has only enhanced her need to thrive.

Since regaining her freedom, JeiJei now uses her voice to speak to legislators on issues that harm her community. She started her advocacy journey at Restore Justice, where she learned that her story mattered. After returning to society, she obtained custody of her younger brother while mentoring young women with the hopes of preventing them all from landing in prison. JeiJei joined IPP with the hopes of educating people on the facts of this broken system and with higher hopes of changing the horrible narrative of people impacted by the system.

Hailey Edwards is the Executive Assistant & Office Manager. Hailey organized and led Alternative Spring Break programs at nonprofits across the country each year during her undergrad with Waubonsee Community College and Aurora University, where her passion for public service and social justice was truly discovered. These trips exposed students to a variety of issues ranging from environmental awareness and sustainability, food and financial security, homelessness, migrants and refugees, domestic violence, and taught them different ways they could address systemic problems in their communities. She received her AA from Waubonsee Community College as a Gustafson Scholar, her BA in Psychology from AU in May 2019, followed by her MPA a year later in 2020, also from AU.

Hailey previously worked for a state representative, starting off as an intern while getting her MPA and later becoming Chief of Staff. Here, she organized monthly social justice meetings to connect the community with organizations and empower them with resources and information. She worked closely with statewide and local orgs to host community events such as “Know Your Rights” workshops, town halls surrounding cash bail and reproductive rights and period poverty awareness campaigns. She has also previously worked as a field organizer on several statewide campaigns and plays an active role in organizing her local community.

Shana East is a development professional and grassroots organizer living in Chicago, Illinois. Growing up in a HUD housing project situated in one of the wealthiest communities in the country, Shana experienced income inequality firsthand. The disparity she saw between her family, neighbors and the community at large, lit a fire inside of her to fight for justice for those in need–because everyone has a right to live, regardless of their ZIP code. Shana has extensive experience in issue-based, movement and electoral organizing. In 2018, she joined the Illinois Poor People’s Campaign and has served on their Coordinating Committee ever since. Shana has spoken both nationally and internationally on a variety of topics, and has written about some of her political experiences for Truthout. She received a BFA in Photography, Film and Electronic Media from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and earned a certification in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Organizations from Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies.

Logan Bay serves as the Operations Manager for the Illinois Prison Project, managing daily internal operations, processes, and administrative functions. Logan champions streamlined people operations and cultures built with compassionate communication that ensure resilience, growth, and fiscal responsibility. Logan is a board member of Chicago-based nonprofits Public Media Institute and Frida Community Organization. In his free time you might find him DJing at finer Chicago events and establishments.

Clare Fauke is the Communications Manager for the Illinois Prison Project, where she oversees the organization's internal and external communications, including news media relations, social and digital media, newsletters, event promotions and storytelling. Clare has over 15 years of experience managing communications for mission-based organizations working in health care justice, education, sustainability, and labor. She is also active in her Chicago neighborhood, and has served in leadership roles in several community groups including Friends of Goethe School and the Unity Park Advisory Council. Clare earned a degree in Political Science and English from the University of Missouri.